Japan Has Kept Asia Anxious Too Long

Will Asian countries ever stop fearing Japan in the way that European states have, for the most part, stopped fearing Germany?

A couple of years ago, things were looking up. A Japanese prime minister apologized to the South Korean president for historical wrongs, and Japan moved toward becoming more open and honest543453037 A new Japanese textbook has been officially approved for use even though it whitewashes parts of the country’s heinous history. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, despite being extremely pop19700371061769173877 visiting the shrine earlier than planned. But no German leader would dare honor Nazis on any day, publicly or quietly.

Japan’s problems do not end there. Even as it continues to stoke the insecurities of its neighbors, Tokyo’s actual contributions to international security remain disappointingly minimal. It

As the U.S.-Japan alliance celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, Tokyo needs to develop a vision for its future global security role. As Japan’s main ally, the U.S. can help. The Bush a16848920141702125938ichard Armitage, coauthored a paper suggesting a stronger alliance.

Unfortunately, Armitage and his coauthors went too far, suggesting that the U.S.-Japan alliance model itself after the U.S. one with Britain. That unrealistic goal would intensify worries ab1869968416 Britain, a nuclear-armed state with a history of autonomous military action, is the wrong model for Japan. Tokyo and Washington should instead emulate the U.S. alliance with Germany. To begi18476214811953849708le in Germany.

Germany also has sought to embed itself within European institutions. Doing so has made its policy process transparent and accessible and reassured those who might otherwise worry about its armed combat forces to the Balkans in the 1990s, the country did so as part of a North Atlantic Treaty Organization operation.

Japan does not now have an Asian version of NATO or the EU within which to situate its security policies and military activities, so it is not realistic to expect Tokyo to do as much as Berl17688249371869966436consistently support multilateral military missions designed for humanitarian or peacekeeping purposes.

And just as Germany helped maintain passable relations between east and west during some of the darkest moments of the Cold War, Tokyo may be able to improve communications between the major5434504771970562336r militaries as well. It might also look for ways to defuse crises over Taiwan.

The U.S.-Japan alliance has been a remarkable and important feature of the East Asian security architecture for half a century, but it is stuck in the past. Tokyo and Washington need to push the alliance to a new place. Given the dangers of the Northeast Asian region, the time for action is now.